The Institute on Race and Poverty defines racial profiling as "the practice of targeting people for police or security stops based on their race or ethnicity in the belief that certain ethnic groups may be more likely to commit a particular crime."

Hispanics are more likely to be illegal aiens. So what is the problem if profiling them if it get the job done. Scoop them up and deport them.?

How often do minorities feel they are singled out by their race? The panel shows that over half of all black men, a quarter of black women, and 20% of Hispanic and Asian men claim to have been stopped by the police by virtue of their race or ethnicity. The figures come from a survey of 1,709 adults in a poll conducted by the Washington Post, Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, and Harvard University.

There are two sides to the racial profiling issue. Many people argue that singling out people by virtue of race or ethnicity is a very real practice of law enforcement. Others claim that racial profiling is a myth; there is little credible evidence to suggest this practice exists. They may also feel race is just a factor in identifying potential criminals. Those on either side of the issue seem to agree on one thing: that the practice of profiling began during the nation's war on drugs that began in the 1970s. A special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration developed a typical profile for a drug courier while assigned to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Agents were encouraged to consider all aspects of a suspect's behavior: did the suspect carry new luggage or no bags at all? Did he seem nervous? Had he recently visited a country that had been flagged as a producer of heroin or cocaine?

The war on drugs intensified in the 1980s. In 1985, the Drug Enforcement Administration launched Operation Pipeline, a program designed to dismantle the networks that aided in the transporting of drugs to large drug markets. In the program police were trained to recognize evidence of concealment in the vehicle as well as to identify suspicious behavior by the driver. Race began to be unfairly emphasized in the profiling efforts, some activists feel, and black and Hispanic male drivers began to be stopped and detained by police.

Gary Webb points out that the California Highway Patrol described the traffic stops as "intensified enforcement" of traffic laws, or "generating a very high volume of legal traffic enforcement to screen for criminal activity, which may include drug trafficking." As the officer writes tickets or issues warnings, he may determine if the motorist fits a drug courier profile. The driver may then face a search of his vehicle. The stops became so commonplace among people of color that terms "Driving while Black" or "Driving while Brown" were coined to address them.

The "intensified enforcement" policy had an additional benefit for law enforcement. Recently implemented legislation allowed law enforcement to seize the property of suspected drug dealers. According to the Department of Justice, local police departments received $490 million worth of cash, goods, and property from drug asset forfeiture programs during fiscal 1997 (Callahan, Anderson).

In 1998, the Operation Pipeline program came under increasing scrutiny. The Joint Legislative Task Force on Government Oversight began to investigate the Operation Pipeline program in California. It determined that the program's success rate was overstated and that 80 to 90% of arrests since 1991 involved minorities. Roughly 66% of those pulled over were Latino. Motorists were reportedly questioned about their employment, family members, immigration status, criminal histories and use of drugs or alcohol.

I would like to add that it should only be when you have an unreasonable suspicion that a person's race may make them more suceptable for a particular crime. When a police officer hears a murder has been committed and only rounds up black people then that is unfair but if he hears a murder was committed by a black male then why should he waste his time going after everyone else who doesn't fit that description?

When a white male wearing a black hoody, weighing 500 lbs riding is a power scooter is reported having robbed a bank, who are you going to profile? White males weighing 500 lbs wearing a black hoody riding is a power scooter.
How do you profile an illegal alien? Hispanic male wearing a black hoodie riding a bicycle having no identification. 9 out 10 Hispanics Arizona officers to will be illegal aliens, with 500,000 illegal aliens in Arizona. 90% of protesters of the Arizona immigration law are illegal aliens who have came out of the shadows to protest.

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